Asian pears: the fruit my family always wants more of
Asian pears have been consistently easy to grow for me and other gardeners across our region.
Cliff notes: Asian pears are less buggy and disease prone than apples, but deliver that same satisfying, sweet, juicy crunch.
Depending on variety, Asian pears can store for several weeks to months, or be preserved in other ways.
Learning to recognize a pseudomonas infection and how to treat it will help prolong the life of your tree should the disease pop up in your garden.
I took another informal poll across various Willamette Valley Facebook groups, and found that, like me, gardeners experience far more successes than failures in growing Asian Pears. There isn’t a consensus on variety selection - where some gardeners have had success, others had failure. Details below.
I don’t know when or where I first had an Asian pears, but wherever I got them from I am thankful that they were some of the good ones. Asian pears from the grocery store can be a range of experiences. Occasionally very good. But often they are either picked too early or their flavor/texture has gone past prime and they taste cloying or a bit mushy.
The taste and texture of *good* Asian pears is similar to that of apples, except WAY more juicy and crisp-tender. Their texture is similar to honeycrisp, but the flavor is more pear-like, sweeter, and even more juicy.
When I first moved to my property, one of my first plantings was an asian pear tree. It jumped up and grew quickly, even in heavy soil, drought, and less-than-optimal sun.
My only regret since then: not growing more. Our family usually eats these up quickly after they ripen. I think I have enough trees to satisfy (I now have 8 trees), but, if I do lose one I’ll have written down all this research to have some ideas of what to replace it with.
Pollination requirements are significantly easier for asian pears than they are for apples. You want your bloom times relatively close together - avoid planting an early bloomer with a late bloomer. This chart gives a bit more info. According to Portland Nursery, early blooming European pears may also work if you happen to have them.
Ripening times: can vary wildly depending on the cultivar. My earliest variety is Hamese, which ripens in early August. Shinko can ripen as late as September/October.
I recall having read in the past that some cultivars do need a lot of heat to ripen well. Currently I can find no literature in this regard. In 2023, I noted that it was a long season and indeed my Shinko and Mishirasu did ripen very well, but haven’t in previous years. I might have had success because my tree had matured, or because of the substantial fruit thinning I did. I will report back as the years progress.
On a tour of the Home Orchard Education Center a few years ago, I made note of a cool looking columnar asian pear called Tarusa Crimson. The director told me that the flavor of this tree is good in hot years, not so much in cool years.
If you’re thinking of growing some obscure variety, you may want to check around to make sure other gardeners have gotten the variety to ripen in the region, or stick with earlier-ripening cultivars, especially if you’re a little higher in elevation or lacking a little sunshine.
Harvest the pears when you lift a pear gently upward and it pops off. They ripen on the tree and there is no need for further ripening on the counter. In hot weather, they can go from ripe to overripe rather quickly.
Asian pears are relatively pest and disease resistant. Covered below are the 3 most common issues I’ve heard about in our region. The disease pseudomonas, along with coddling moths and stink bugs.
Pseudomonas/blossom blast is the more common disease issue in our region for disease. Note that though this is what the literature and some experts say, but most home growers haven’t made mention of it. I have never seen it on any of my trees.
Should this disease occur, the symptoms look similar to fireblight, except that fireblight has oozing associated with it. Fireblight is also associated with warm, wet weather. In our region, when warm weather comes the rain usually stops. In contrast, pseudomonas is favored in cool, wet weather.
There are 3 common areas of infection of pseudomonas on asian pear trees.
-Blossoms: if a cold snap comes along during blooming, the blossoms are easily injured, causing an entry point for the bacterial infection. Additional photos for reference can be seen here. Since bloom time varies between cultivars, having multiple cultivars may protect against cold snaps. Some websites state that a blossom blast infection can be so severe as to travel down the branch to infect the spur, other sites imply that a blossom blast infection usually only impacts flowering for the season. I personally have never seen blossom blast on my trees, and I have some cultivars that are supposedly susceptible to injury. It may be that my trees are surrounded by forest, which acts as a major windbreak, keeping cold gales from damaging the blossoms.
-Young growth is also susceptible to cold injury, which causes an entry point for the bacteria to spread. See the photo on this page for what the disease looks like on twigs. One way you can discourage this disease is by *not* encouraging rapid growth late in the season, so that the plant has appropriate time to harden off its wood prior to winter. You would do this by not fertilizing late in the season, and not watering heavily late in the season. I personally have never given my asian pears any fertilizer at all - perhaps that is why I’ve never seen injury here.
-Injuries: anything that injures the tree - such as deer, pruning, crossing/rubbing branches, etc., causes an entry point for infection. Pruning only during warm, dry weather will discourage disease formation. Be super careful with weed-whackers. Sunscald (a sunburn), especially on young trees, can be an injury entry point, so consider painting trunks with white latex paint - especially if you’ve got a susceptible cultivar on a very exposed site. See this page for an example or turn to google for how to do that.
Pseudomonas susceptibility varies between cultivars. See this chart if you would like to select those cultivars that are less susceptible. Evidently Chinese cultivars are even more susceptible, check this page for more info. Note that not all cultivars are listed - notably Raja which, according to grower #15 (see below) is his favorite for disease resistance and flavor. Also of note, some cultivars that are reported by nurseries as pseudomonas-resistant are not included (Raja, Yoinashi, Ichiban).
Once infection sets in on a branch, the infection can spread to the rest of the tree. So you’ll want to remove it during the most appropriate time. One super confusing bit of advice that I’ve seen is to prune out all infected growth as soon as you’ve spotted it. But if causing injury induces further infection, shouldn’t you wait until warm weather so as to not encourage more infection? I suppose the answer depends on the age of the tree - if the tree is young, you’ll want to at least try to get that infection removed so it doesn’t travel down and kill the whole tree. Has anyone out there had experience with this?
Stink bugs can cause some issues on fruits, but the damage is usually something you can easily work around. Stink bugs suck juice through the skin, which causes some dimpling. Underneath the dimple a stone-like formation forms, which can be tough on your teeth. When you see the dimple, avoid the stone. Your teeth will thank you. As far as I know, there are not good controls for stink bugs, but the extension office is working on coming up with some advice.
Coddling moths are nowhere near as big a problem as they are on apples. Make sure to thin your fruit so they are not touching (the touch point is where coddling moths particularly like to infect). Encourage moth-eating woodpeckers as much as you can (they really like suet). If you still notice a significant infection, you can try covering each fruit with organza bags, booties, or paper bags to keep the moths out. Surround, kaolin clay, could also be used, but it must be sprayed 3 times during appropriate weather with a special sprayer.
Notes on using and preservation:
Most asian pears can store for months in the refrigerator.
Canning: asian pears are usually low acid, and it is required to add an acid to them prior to canning. I have never had them as a canned product. Have you? Are they good? Here is a link to OSU’s guidelines on canning asian pears.
Dehydrated: I tried some sliced thin and dehydrated them like apples. They taste pretty good! I’m particular about which foods I like dried - and can wholeheartedly recommend drying.
Jam: this is a product offered by WSU that is not canned (because asian pears are low acid), but put in the refrigerator or freezer for long term storage. I have yet to try it but will report back when I get around to it some day.
Chojuro Butterbeer with or without rum: another I have yet to try. This link is also a fun read about asian pears in general.
In my garden:
I’ve got a mature 3x1 combo, which consists of Yoinashi, Hamese, and Mishirasu. Hamese is the first to ripen, and they get eaten quick in early August. Yoinashi follows a few weeks later. Both Yoinashi and Hamese have been fruiting since the very beginning of their life here. We very much enjoy them.
Mishirasu, however, took some time. Last year was the first year that I got them to fully ripen, likely due to a combo of factors: I thinned heavily and the season was long and quite warm. I am happy to finally report that I really do like the flavor of this variety.
The other mature tree I’ve got is Shinko. At first I didn’t think I was going to like the fruit of this tree. 2023 was the year I thinned this tree very heavily, thinking if the flavor/texture still sucks I was going to yank this tree out. But what happened when I thinned them out was the fruits ballooned - like over a pound each - and the tree finally fully ripened a heavy crop for me in late September. The long season and tree maturity also likely had an impact.
Lesson learned. Heavily thin the fruits out, at least 10 inches apart on those cultivars that give big fruits. More if your branches are skinny.
Baby plants I’ve got in the garden:
Hamese - I picked up another plant for its early fruiting capability and reliability. I have never had a year it hasn’t fruited.
Shinsui - supposed to be the best flavor of the earliest of the season cultivars.
Yakumo - I purchased as a tree from the Home Orchard Education Center after tasting them. SO good.
Seigyoku - Also tasted at HOEC, probably the best Asian pear I’ve ever had. YUM.
20th Century - Another purchase after tasting from HOEC.
Hosui - I purchased a few years ago from the Home Orchard Society. I’ve tasted the fruit and it is exceptional. However, I hear it is particularly susceptible to Pseudomonas infections… we shall see.
What do other gardeners in the valley have to say on this topic? What varieties do they grow or what issues have they seen? Scroll down to see tallies successes and failures.
I took another informal poll across various Willamette Valley gardening groups to find out other gardeners’ thoughts on the topic. The initials are how I keep track of each conversation.
KH likes his 20th Century tree.
TH from GOM says he has Hosui and Nijiseki. The Hosui is stunted, and looks like some kind of canker in the main trunk. Since he noticed that damage, he’s since purchased Raja.
3. TH from GOM says she has a canker like infection on her 20th Century.
MGL of GOM says she has a tree of unknown variety, it produces so much food that she has enough to give away to people.
JB of GOM says she has an espaliered Asian Pear. It is very productive, and she cooks and freezes the pears and eats them all year long.
AS of GOM says she got rid of her apples and swapped for asian pears, they grow better for her.
TJ of GOM has an asian pear that produces well.
AB of GOM has a 4-way asian pear and likes it.
SK of GOM has asian pears that grow well in her yard.
AT of GOM has 3 asian pears and they do very well for her.
LKL from HWOTPA had a shinseiki in her former yard in Hillsboro and loved it. The only issue is that it tended to overbear, and she needed to thin the fruit heavily in order to keep the branches from breaking.
EA of HWOTPA says she dehydrates her asian pears and likes them, if they are dried fully. If you taste them halfway through the drying process they taste like dirt and are gritty.
JPD of MHH says she has 2 asian pear trees of unknown variety. One produces heavily the other does not.
MB of MHH says her Hosui is incredible. She did get a little stink bug damage last year.
SB - a professional orchardist in the area - recommends Raja, Shinseiki, and Yoinashi for the pseudomonas resistance. His favorite is Raja for flavor and disease resistance. Fireblight resistant varieties are Juicy Jewel and Shinko. He recommends avoiding Hosui and Kikisui as they are disease prone. Note: I did not ask how many of each variety he has grown.
NM of PNFG has a very old asian pear, and they get thousands of pounds of fruit from it every year. The fruit is not particularly tasty but the tree is so big that they don’t bother thinning.
AG from PNG has an espaliered Shinseiki and Shinko. No pest or disease issues and they fruit prolifically.
MDR from PNG has Hosui, Chojuru, and 20th Century. All produce well and no spraying needed. Does have the occasional coddling moth.
GK of PNG has Korean Giant and Shinseiki. They are too young to fruit, but growing well.
TB of PNG has 4 chojuros that are too young to fruit but growing well.
JP from POG has Raja, too young to fruit but growing well.
CL from SWG has a few trees of unknown variety. They grow very well, and even in march still have some in the crisper drawer.
DW had 3 trees that were neglected. They got infected with both apple maggot and coddling moth. She tried various methods, to get rid of them and didn’t get much of a handle on the problem until she tried spinosad, then had great harvests.
EM of EG has a brown skinned type, doesn’t know variety. It has fruited well for 20 years.
SD of EG has a combined bartlett and asian pear. She’s had mixed results - some years seem to fruit well, other years are wormy.
LT of PPG has Shinko and Hosui. Both fruit for her.
LGB of GIO says she’s got an espaliered tree and has mixed results. Some years are good, others she hardly gets anything due to some kind of orange fungus. See notes on #34
CW of BWCAPED said she got tons of earwigs on hers for some reason.
SHP of FGG says that as much as she loves them, she gets so many that she doesn’t know what to do with them all. She says her variety doesn’t keep well.
KF of FGG says she makes asian pear butter and dehydrates hers when she gets too many.
GK of FGG says he also gets way too many each year and can never figure out what to do with them all. He’s got two varieties grafted onto his trees and says the flavor is excellent on both of them.
JH of GOM has an established asian pear tree, and she gets several thousand of them all at once that it’s overwhelming. I suggested taking a top-working class through Home Orchard Education Center, to turn some of those branches into varieties that ripen at later times. She’s going for it.
DD of OCG has an established tree that gets no attention at all, produces heavily every year.
NK of SWWAG says he has an espaliered tree, roughly 10 years old, with Shinko and Shinseiki. He gets what he says are apple maggots badly in the fruit. He says the Shinko gets “cedar pear rust”. Note that gardener 27 has a similar aged tree that is espaliered. I tried to find out if this is from the same grower - perhaps they had infected pruning tools when they pruned the trees into shape??
EP of SWWAG says she had several trees that all got “blight” on them.
Data: tallied here are the total successes and failures, along with the varieties, if known. I did not tally any trees that are too young to bear.
Trees that are fruiting well:
Unknown varieties: 18
**Shinseiki: 4
20th Century: 2
*Raja: 1
Hosui: 3
*Shinko: 4
*Juicy jewel: 1
Chojuro: 1
Hamese: 1
Mishirasu: 1
*Yoinashi: 2
Total successes: 40
Tree failures: these are trees that are noted to have died or significant disease issues.
*Hosui: 2
20th Century: 1
Shinko: 1
*Kikisui: 1
Unknown varieties: 5
Total failures: 10
*Those marked with one asterisk: at least one of the tallies that have this mark are answers that came from professional orchardist #15. I did not ask how many of each variety he is growing, but did make note of the successes and failures of varieties in his orchard. Most other tallies only reflect a single tree.
**Shinseiki is the only asian pear I’ve recently tasted that I wasn’t super fond of. It tasted quite vegetal versus fruit like. The fruit came from an orchard on the east side of the cascades, which is a different growing region. And my tasting could have been a one off. Many gardeners report success with this variety, so take this with a grain of salt.
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